#Book Review Belgravia by Julian Fellowes

​Pre-dating the well-known and well-loved Downton Abbey, Belgravia is set in the 1800s. The story takes seed in 1815 at the time of the Battle of Waterloo. A well-to-do but socially mediocre Trader’s daughter falls for a man of fortune and title. However, a misconception colours the fortune of her unborn son.

As intriguing as I found the plot and the politics of high society, this one fell a bit short for me when it came to characterisation. As expected the period is well depicted and I found it entertaining overall but I found Charles Pope quite one dimensional and although he has a major part in the whole novel, we never really know much about him and therefore it is difficult to connect and care so much about the character.

As usual the servants play an interesting part of voyeurs and manipulators in the whole saga but again they seem limited caricatures rather than personalities I could connect with whilst reading this novel.

Perhaps he has become used to having actors to flesh out his characters, and only needing to provide the scenarios. Is this his first novel (as opposed to screenplay)? I don’t suppose his publisher pushed him too hard (re the characterisation) given what a huge name he is. Pity. I shall give it a go, all the same.

He is an actor by trade so I was hoping he would be strong when it came to characterisation, but unfortunately not. He does have quite the catalogue of novels to his name. I’m on the fence about picking up another.